Meet Tortuga

Evan Katz and Morgan Steffy are two of the newest members of Seed Hatchery, an information technology accelerator operated by Start Co. They are working to build an app – Tortuga – that helps everyday people get feedback on the clothing they wear. Evan and Morgan first met while studying abroad in Ecuador.

How did you come up with the idea for Tortuga?

The idea for Tortuga arose from trying to solve our own problem – we were tired of sending group texts from dressing rooms asking our friends for feedback on what we were wearing. We first discussed the idea of building an app to solve this problem when we were in the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador – hence the name “Tortuga.”

What has been the most valuable resource you have received from Start Co. so far?

For us, the mentorship and connections have been the most valuable resource. We’re both passionate about what we’re doing and are learning more everyday, but there’s still a bunch we don’t know. Leveraging the network around us helps us fill in our knowledge gaps and avoid a lot of the common pitfalls of starting up.

What is your greatest challenge so far? How are you working to overcome it?

Our biggest challenge is “solving the puzzle” of our revenue model. Through the customer discovery process, we’ve verified that there’s interest in our core concept. However, we’re still trying to figure out the best way to both build a useful and entertaining experience for our users while generating enough revenue to grow our company.

What are you looking forward to?

As we get closer to perfecting our business model and launching our initial product, we can’t wait to see people enjoying our technology. After our initial launch, we will continue to gather feedback and tweak our product and business into something that’s truly an excellent experience.

Evan Katz and Morgan Steffy can be reached at info@asktortuga.com. For more updates follow them on twitter @AskTortuga or check out their Facebook page.